THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

New and Updated version (circa 2019) - by Marketo

"Social media is one of the most powerful ways to reach and engage with your buyers today.

Because it’s almost universally used—by consumers and brands—social media is one of the most effective (and perhaps cost-effective) channels to connect with your audience.

Today, it’s not enough just to be on social media. You need to be actively engaging with your audience— building your network, sharing content, asking your audience to share content, participating in conversations, and responding to comments.

As social media adoption continues to rise, an omni-channel social media marketing strategy is essential to your brand’s success. You can’t afford to be absent from conversations going

on about your brand, especially when your competitors are part of them.

Change is constant for social media. Ensure your strategy can stand the test of time by defining your goals and then by testing and adapting the activities you do to support them over time. Technology will help your team and social media marketing strategy adapt and iterate quickly in addition to enabling you to understand how your cross-channel, continuous conversations with your audience on social media platforms ultimately contribute to achieving your goals and driving revenue.

Now that you understand how to develop a social media strategy, you'll be able to use social media marketing to engage your customers at each stage of the journey and create content that's relevant and drives toward your objectives."

Download THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

Social Brands - the Future of Marketing?

Really useful eBook by Simon Kemp and "We Are Social"

The brands that actively involve their audiences in the creation of value are best placed to succeed in an evermore connected world.

This eBook presents a series of provocations to help you define your brand’s approach to this connected future, and helps you to start bringing that vision to life today, by building a truly social brand.

The 8 principles of social brands:

• Social equity drives brand equity
• Communities have more value than platforms
• All your marketing must add value
• Go mobile or stand still
• Evolve from big ideas to leitmotifs
• Move from selective hearing to active listening
• Experiences are the new products
• CSR must evolve into civic engagement

Learn more and...

Download "Social Brands - the Future of Marketing"

The Internet of Things - Cool Presentation by Vala Afshar

The Internet of Things (IoT) is simply a concept wherein machines and everyday objects are connected via the Internet. Within the IoT, devices are controlled and monitored remotely and usually wirelessly. IDC predicts that the IoT will include 212 billion things globally by the end of 2020. That sounds like a big number, but for context, in 2014 there are over 10 quadrillion ants on the planet.

Although ants are not yet members of the IoT, Wifi-connected bees are now in development to help with pollination. MIT is working on smart sand that will be able to move and duplicate 3D objects, and Harvard has already developed 1000-robot swarms. Throw in smart dust motes and IDC's 212 billion IoT device estimate begins to look conservative.

The benefits, based solely on products that exist today, let alone the unimagined combinations of emerging capabilities, are tremendous. More than ever the smartphone has become the remote control for life. Data is available at your fingertips on everything imaginable. But there are a number of challenges and disruptions ahead. These challenges include technical issues, business issues, requirements for new and evolving skill sets, legal and legislative difficulties, and social complexities.

See The Presentation:

Internet of Things from Vala Afshar

Vala Afshar is the Chief Marketing Officer for Extreme Networks and Huffington Post and InformationWeek blogger.  He is the author of "The Pursuit of Social Business Excellence".

Key Trends in Social Media for 2015

Presentation by Marshall Manson & James Whatley from Social@Ogilvy

At the close of 2013, Marshall Manson, managing director of Social@Ogilvy EMEA, and James Whatley, social media director of Ogilvy & Mather Advertising London, put their heads together and came up with their 2014 trend predictions for the year ahead.

This document outlines a brief review of those ideas as well as a more in-depth look at the thoughts, trends and predictions for next year, 2015.

Download Key Trends in Social Media for 2015